My work are narratives with a teaching or tradition embedded within
The Seven Grandfathers, The Four Directions
The repeating lines, connecting us to Mother Earth, the Sky and the Spirit Realms
Dreams of Nature, Guiding Me
2024
This is a self-portrait, based on my dreams and my connections to the natural world, which has always had a major impact to my creative spirit. Being in an urban environment, where I currently live, I feel less connected to nature and to the land, this drives the inclusion and exploration of nature in my art.
Mooz Manitou
2024
This artwork was inspired by a vision I had during a Shakey tent ceremony. I saw many things, including a mooz manitou. This work is meant to honour that experience and our mooz relations. It also makes connections of the spirit and sky realms, and highlights the mooz constellation (Pegasus, Lacerta) which is visible in the harvest sky.
Woodland Dreamer
2024
Nanabozho
2024
Nanabozho: Transformation(s)
2024
Smudge
2024
Star Woman
2024
Miskwaadesi All The Way Down
2024
Loon Family
2024
Diving Through a Doorway
2023
Sky & Spirit Realms:
Through the stars & sky above,
Through the rivers & waters below,
They are the gateways to our ancestors.
Turtle Island / Creation Story
2024
This is part of a celestial series linking the water and the spirit realms with the sky realm. The spirit is a traveller transcending time and space and spirit. The traveller is a link to the ancestors and the connections we hold to the sky, the land, and the water.
Nanabozho
2023
In this piece the ancestors are in a celestial setting, and they are manifesting the spirit Nanabozho through the oral tradition, and he is seen through the vibrations of the sound waves made. waves of oral tradition
Full Moon of March: Awakening
2023
The Traveller and the Moon
2023
Wabooz
2023
Nm'e giizis - Sturgeon Moon
2023
Mishipeshu
2024
Mishipeshu is a powerful water spirit and the protector of copper. A mythological being whose name means water-lynx, it is a colossal being with the horned-head of a lynx and a scaley body with sharp spikes running down its spine. It is said to be the protector of the vast deposits of copper in the Lake Superior region.
Wendigo
2024
Bad medicine manifesting as the Wendigo through a human spirit.
Nature in Concord
2023
Strawberry Medicine
2021
Flower Medicine
2023
Kitigan in the Sun
2024
Abalone connects the florals to the water realm and the celestial background connects them both to the sky realm. These realms are all connected and linked to the spirit realm and to our ancestors.
Flower Medicine
2023
Linseed Garden
2024
This piece is about the beauty and diversity of flowers and how that diversity plays a vital role in nature. Although all the flowers are different colours with different petals, their roots are all the same. It is also a reminder of our connections to the land.
Cattails
2024
This is about environmental stewardship. Cattails are a water- cleaning plant that help to filter and balance our environment.
Language of Our Ancestors
2022
This piece shows the deeply rooted traditions passed to us from our ancestors, seen as spirits growing in the roots of a strawberry plant. The knowledge is growing though to the seeds who are sharing it with physical realm through the strawberry plant.
Copyright © 2024 Tessa Shank